I, Science Radio – 7 Jan 2019

To begin the year, we discussed all sorts about science. Firstly of all, the books we read over the Christmas and New Year break – lots of inspiration here for reading in 2019, including learning all about the microbiome in Tim Spector’s book “The diet myth”. We discussed some fascinating research into an old practice of how assistants helping surgeons to put on their gowns and gloves before doing an operation may actually be transferring more bacteria than if they did it on their  own. We staged the first ever live “gowning up” on the I, Science show, ending with lots of microbiome transfer, supporting the researchers view that surgeons should put their own gowns on. We will talked about new research that shows that it is possible to decode from brain waves what the brain is hearing (recording the brain during a live operation). The decoding of these recordings of neurons firing may just be a prelude to hearing other people’s thoughts. In case you were worried about some random computer hearing your thoughts in the future we reported on some research about how often male and female students think about sex, sleep and food, so at least you can tell if you are in or outside the normal range .. or will it .. the white polar bear experiment shows that it is very difficult not to think about something you have been told not to think about!. And finally we discussed that most popular of New Year Resolutions – doing Veganuary https://veganuary.com/register/

Listen below and find the rest of our shows here.

Catch us next Monday at ICRadio.com from 5-6pm!

This week on I, Science Radio, our radio producer is Jason Hosken and editor is Hilary Guite. We joined by Rachel Ng as guest producer, and Bernadeta Dadonaitė, Katy Palister, Emily Medcalf, and Madeleine Openshaw as guests. 

Banner Image: Monash Gippsland’s Teddy Bear Hospital 2012, Flickr